E C L I P S E
by Sky65
Summary: By a sick twist of fate, Nicole and her younger brother Michael are lost in the wilds of Grass Country, slowly dying. A stranger, a panda, and a few loud ninjas later...Well, the possible outcomes are endless, especially when the 'fictional world' of Naruto is the 'real world' and the foreign siblings are seen as the 'fictional characters'. SI/OC. Slight AU. Attempted realism.
1. Chapter 1

**Eclipse**

**-x-**

_Chapter_ 1

I stretched out a hand, teeth chattering from the bitter temperature. My blood-shot eyes were wild and fraught. The cracked dry skin that encroached most of my fingers feigned some desperate attempt of strength, to give hope where it seemed hopeless. As another breeze picked up I drew in a sharp breath; I extentended my hand just a little more to grasp his.

"C-Come on, Michael. Not that much further." I dared to smile against chapped lips and the weighted odds.

My little brother wrapped his fingers around my firm hold, grasping my hand to pull himself upwards. For a split second his blue-gray eyes locked into my own hazel orbs, weary and afraid. That's why when I finished helping him up the rocky slope I made sure that the exposed burns that marred my left arm and neck were facing away from him, because it was all I could do try and reassure him that everything was fine. That we would stay alive.

The two of us continued up the inclined plane for what seemed longer than a few miles, yet was probably only two at most. By that time I could clearly see the great green expanse of imposing woodland surrounding us. The wind rained down more bitterly as we hiked further and further up, numbing every inch of uncovered skin, and perhaps to my relief, evens my agonizing wounds. Michael fared no better, although he had no wounds, but his nose and cheeks were rosy while his skin was paled from the cold. His raggedy Brewers jersey was covered with my thin maroon jacket while his jeans were muddied and grass-stained. I on the other hand was outfitted with a (recently) tattered brown t-shirt from band and some decent jeans.

I was wiping away my runny nose when Michael stuttered hoarsely, "Nicole, I'm not cold, you can have your jacket back."

I turned to my right and he was already slipping the thin Aeropostale jacket off. I stopped mid-step and stared vacantly, until his words finally processed so I could understand him.

"No. Put it back on now." I snapped, exhaustion succumbing me to short-temperedness.

"Why should I? You need it more than me! Y-You're shivering really badly and you look h-horrible." Michael rebuked, stubbornly refusing.

"Give it rest, will you? I've told you four days ago that you need it more. First off - you have less fat to burn. Secondly, you burn off that fat faster than I could. And finally, if you get sick while your allergies are acting up…it…it'd be disastrous. So let me worry about myself, because I'm older and I'll be fine."

"You told me that already," muttered Michael, "but I'm not stupid. And I'm not a baby."

"I _never _said you were a baby _or_ that you're stupid. I just don't want you to get sick! Alright? Just wear the freaking jacket." I reproached, irate.

"No. What happens if_ you_ get sick?"

"Well_ I_ have a better immune system! And _I _don't have bad allergies!"

"So?"

"So keep it on!"

"Fine then, I'll keep it on!" he scowled. "Just stop yelling at me and ordering around to do stuff!"

"I'm not yelling at you." I snapped.

"Yeah you are."

"I'm _not_. Stop being so crabby."

"Why don't _you_ stop being crabby then?"

"Just, just – _enough!" _I shouted. "We're both stressed to our limits, I get it. We've had hardly any sleep, and we're cold, and we're starving, and thirsty, and…and I _know_ we want to be back home, safe and sound. We've spent three nights huddled for warmth without so much of a blanket. You have your allergies starting to act up while I have fuc–– _stupid -_crappy burns that hurt like heck and could easily get infected. I get it. We both can hardly stand up and keep moving. _I get it_. But right now is not the time to argue, especially with me, alright? At this rate we could…could…"

Michael's scowl darkened considerably and he looked down and away from me. At first I thought he was simply mad at me, but then I noticed. I noticed my little brother's bottom lip trembling. His shoulders were shaking, his hands too. A venomous guilt leapt and coiled tightly around my heart, squeezing and strangling with its cold chain-like body. Right then, it was all I could do to not let my raging emotions get the better of me. Already tears pooled beneath my eyes and my throat constricted painfully.

With unsteady hands I reached out slowly at first, before I found the resolve to pull my nine year old brother into an unyielding embrace, ignorant of him trying to push me away. My chest shuddered violently from holding in a complete breakdown. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Michael." My words quaked pathetically, but they came out at the least. "Just…please. Wear that dang jacket because I'm going to cry if you don't. Wear it because I don't want to risk losing you, not if there is the slimmest of chance of preventing anything, so please."

Michael, halting his attempts of prying me off, started quivering harder from muffled cries. My shirt soon felt the wetness of teardrops. As his fifteen year old sister, I could only tighten the hug. No matter what, he had to live. I was never protective of him before, I always thought he was a bit annoying, but right then – at that moment – he was the single most important thing in my life.

If anything happened to him…

"Why don't we rest for a while?" I sniffed, loosening the warm hug. "We can also try unfreezing our fingers, too."

He nodded, his face hidden in my shirt.

We broke apart, but I made sure to take hold of his hand before we shuffled over to some makeshift looking shelter of trees that looked to shield a little from the breezes.

The frozen ground was cold beneath us when we sat with heavy plops.

"Sorry, Nicole." Michael mumbled when he sat in-between my spread legs, leaning into me.

I wrapped my arms around him protectively, staring above his light brown head of hair and into the grayed afternoon sky. No sunlight filtered through, unfortunately. I sighed as warmth from Michael ebbed slowly into me.

"I guess now would be a good time to say it doesn't matter – ouch! Careful, don't rub your arm against my burns– but we aren't used to this. Do you want to just talk a little bit? We'll be here awhile."

My stomach growled angrily, and hot saliva filled my mouth, screaming for some kind of edible thing. I could only imagine what Michael was feeling.

"Umm, I guess I'm really hungry." His face turned, and at the new angle I saw him smirk sheepishly – he was lucky that his lips weren't yet chapped.

"Besides being hungry." I intoned, rolling my eyes.

"…Well…I'm really scared…" Michael whispered, defeated. "About everything."

I gave a hesitant reply, "So am I…but it should turn out all right. It still looks like we're in earth or something. There's oxygen and water and food. If worse comes to worst, well, I assume we'll find some nice farm or a nice family to help us out, just like all those books… Maybe… I guess it's possible…it's probably a long-shot…but still. Let's just hope for some luck to come our way. We don't want to lose all that we have left...or something like that."

Okay, so I wasn't the best at speeches, but it got a point across, at least I_ think _it did. What I was trying to say to Michael was that we didn't _have _to lose hope. We didn't _have _to give up and die a sad death. As long as we tried to survive, we would.

"Do you need some Chapstick?" Michael interjected suddenly.

"Huh? ...Wait! You have some chapstick?" As I asked the question, his hand slipped into his pocket and drew out the yellow Carmex stick with a red cap. I beamed radiantly, cracking my lips more – but it didn't matter.

"You moron, could've told me sooner!" I teased while ripping it away from his hand. Michael shrugged before tucking himself closer to me. I applied the soothing balm onto my lips. My eyes watered and while my lips were viciously attacked by a ruthless sting, but it felt so much better after it settled. "Oh thank God for this stuff!"

The gray sky had darkened some while we sat around. I pulled out my purple LG slide phone and tucked its battery back in. Once the small phone turned on I looked at the time.

It still said 2:26… it never changed the numbers since _that_ happened.

I snuggled into Michael little more, warming my left hand while my right one was busying itself with my phone.

"You wanna take a picture?" I mumbled groggily. "And remember all the fun times we've had out in the wilderness…"

He shrugged.

And so I snapped a photo, realizing how dirty and messy we both after glancing over the captured moment. My burns looked pretty icky, my face looked pale – sickly – my nose was runny, and my eyes were red with bags forming underneath. I grimaced quickly before turning off the phone completely and taking its battery out. "…Hghmm."

"Are we going to stay here tonight?" He asked me randomly.

"Hghmmm." I groaned. "Fine."

We settled in for the upcoming night, moving our bums to a slightly more sheltered spot. The trees and other foliage had thinned out more and more during our hike up the dreadful hill, or mountain, and so it was a relief that we uprooted some bushes and leaves to create a warmer 'tent' that we crawled into. Michael was soon out cold, but his stomach growled angrily in his sleep. I on the other hand stayed awake, petting his soft hair anxiously. Sleep wound not come no matter how much I begged it too.

Instead my burns shrieked at me, my head ached, my limbs stiffened, my breathing labored even more. I was feeling horrible, and I knew I was probably sick. And I knew I could easily die if it continued on. There was no medicine, no soft bed, no blankets, no shower, no mom or dad, no water, or no anything.

All we had was each other and the barren wasteland of winter around us.

But soon, even that wouldn't be true.

Soon… I could possibly…

My lips trembled and let out a silent, choked cry through the night.

* * *

AN:

_**My first Naruto fanfiction, I can't promise regular updates every two days or the ungodly everyday, but I'll try to make something work. Maybe update once a week...afer my vacation ends. I think this is a SI, but at the same time, I view it as a more OOC Me.** Oh, and this is an attempt at a more "realistic" plot I guess. As realistc as going the Narutoverse is...Please enjoy, and review to give some feedback! Thank you._


	2. Chapter 2 : Obscuration

**ECLIPSE**

_**"Obscuration"**_

**-x-**

_Chapter _2

"This i-isn't working." I murmured with the mere sour scratch of voice I had left. "We're both gonna' get killed like this..."

"But we have to go sometime! You'll only get worse if we stay..." Michael argued hastily. He wrapped my thin arm around his small shoulders once more, but it was futile. He was weaker and smaller than me while my body was on the verge of shutting down. The ramification of such conditions was obvious.

Why couldn't I fall to the ground already and succumb to this terrible, terrible world? (_Why were we even here?)_

It was nauseating; the biting cold against the fever-induced body. There was no reverse button. To compromise with the horrible condition I woke up in, my brother and I had to resort to more arduous and untactful means of travel. This resulted in our current predicament of Michael practically half-dragging and half-carrying me. How unfortunate. We really lucked out, didn't we? After all my hard work of keeping Michael's health at bay, the price I paid for it had finally taken its toll. And as we inched along like snails, going up the tall hill so that we had a view of everything around us, I couldn't help but regret not keeping myself safe and healthy. In all honesty, that would've been the best decision. I could've carried Michael if he was sick; it didn't work the other way around.

Why was I blinded by such outcomes? Did I really believe I couldn't get sick? Did I really believe I was invincible after hours of exposure, extensive physical activity, few nutrients, and uncovered burns? In the end it was my younger brother- whom I had let ride on my back, use my jacket, gave my portion of candy to - that had escaped the full brutality of our environment.

"Come on, Nicole. Just move a little more, we're already so far up! I can actually see the tops of those really big trees we were under when we arrived! See, look it!" When he pointed the direction downwards, I followed with my eyes. He was right. Those huge (_monstrous__)_ trees we had been under were now right under our noses, looking like normal trees for a change. A flimsy feeling of achievement tugged some at my heart. "And we don't have to get to the very top, just far enough to see a town!"

I glanced at Michael, the brown-haired kid grinned encouragingly.

...a bit too much so

Yes, his smile was a bit too strained, a bit too unrealistic.

"Yeah," I agreed hoarsely, if not inaudibly, "you're right."

We took a few more steps forward, my attention diverted to the dirt below my dragging feet. I leaned heavily on Michael while we inched upwards a little more. I saw his teeth clench together, determined.

...too determined.

Yes, that face looked a bit too set for him.

A bit too unreadable.

It was like a piece of opaque glass; obscure.

.

.

.

In the end, I collapsed. Michael, being Michael, couldn't carry 114 pounds of dead-weight and had fallen with me. The best part? We had only managed to move twenty yards at most. I was still able to see our starting point.

"Just go up without me." I patted his head, now leaning up against a small tree.

"I-I can't leave you here!"

"Yes you can," I retorted. "Just find out if there's anything around us."

_But what if there isn't anything?_

_"_Nicole, you…" He stopped himself, gazing deeply within my eyes. "No, you're right. I'll go."

_No._

"I promise that I-I'll be back soon." He leaned forward and gave an awkwardly positioned hug.

_No…_

I gripped him tightly before releasing. After dusting dirt of his jeans, he turned away. His jersey looked utterly flimsy without my jacket to cover it this time.

_No…Don't…_

"See you. I'll be waiting." Lies snaked through my teeth.

_No… Please don't..._

He didn't respond.

_Michael…don't…_

He left without another word.

_…don't leave me._

Alone.

* * *

**_AN:_**

**__****_Future chapters will be longer, it just felt right to leave a cliffy. I'll update soon._**

**_Truth is, I actually do feel invincible in my life. I feel in control. What about you guys?_**

**_Question: Would you like language difficulties as a conflict? I myself have a semi-extensive knowledge of many of the Japanese grammatical stuctures and vocabulary, although I agree I'm no expert. And because this is a sort-of-SI, I wondered whether I should add such to Nicole. _**

**_Preview:_**

_His chiseled square jaw was set, onyx eyes looking over us curiously, as if finding some sadistic amusement in our predicament. His calculating eyes saw everything, making me feel naked against such bizarre scrutiny. His hand tapped repetitively against the handle of his sword, or katana, a smirk slowly appearing on that mask of a face. _

**_Thanks for the reviews/follows/favorites! I'm astounded!_**


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